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fantasy
Yellow Rose Ballgown & Doll
Download the 2 page PDF | More of the July Project Paper Dolls
All right, so I spent sometime this week coloring my favorite of the July Project which was this rose ballgown.
One thing Procreate does really poorly is color management. It’s really frustrating. I keep thinking there’s a trick to it that I am missing, but after watching several tutorials and such, I am increasingly convinced that Procreate is just bad at color management. That’s it.
I’m still experimenting with texture as well and clearly experimenting with shadow, as well. My favorite artists don’t tend to do a lot with shadow… I dunno. I remain unconvinced that it works. More experimenting is clearly needed. But you don’t know if you don’t try, I always say, so trying matters.
Long story short: I’m not in love with Procreate for coloring things. I’m pretty happy with how this turned out, but I think I want more texture or maybe slightly different texture or something.
A Stylish Paper Doll July: The Rose Ballgown
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Am I allowed to have favorites? Because I 100% do right now.
This rose fantasy dress absolutely encapsulates what I am discovering I love about working on my ipad and working digitally.
Layers!
So, my original plan was to draw this dress, though I did adapt it a bit. I changed the ruched bottom piece to a ruffle, added a second layer of roses and did a few other things. The point is that as I was working on the bodice, I realized it could be a totally separate piece.
And this got me thinking about Victorian dresses with several bodices to pair with one skirt.
And then I remembered playing paper dolls with my niece and how she didn’t like the skirts, because they didn’t stay on the dolls very well (and these big skirts don’t unless you add some extra paper strips in the back to hold the skirt against the doll.
And then I was like, but I could make the drees strapless, add a few tabs to the bodice for additional security and then design the bodices to go over the top of the dress.
So, in the end, we have a dress with four different bodices and one jacket.
I couldn’t be more pleased with the outcome.
The only thing that I think could be more fun would be a second skirt option, because then you’d double your outfit potential with just one more piece. But that’s unlikely to happen… well, this month, anyhow.
A Stylish Paper Doll July: Fantasy Adventuring Armors
Download the PDF of 24 | Download the PDF of 25 | More July Project Paper Dolls
And now I am pleased to say we are all caught up with this paper doll project! Woo!
I wanted to do something that really let me play with fantasy stuff like armor since I hadn’t done much of that. I had ideas for chainmail, but never could get it to look right without manually drawing every link. I almost bought a brush for it, but then I have have mixed experiences paying for brushes. Some are amazing and some are kind meh. It’s tough, because you can’t really test it before you pay for it.
Anyway, I’m really happy with how both of these came out even if I didn’t end up sorting out my chainmail challenges. Rather then chainmail, I went with a padded gambeson (which I think is the right name… for the quilted padded jackets people wore as armor back in the day or sometimes under plate armor) for one and the other I did a bit more of a fantasy breastplate thing. All five pieces can mix and match, so there really quite a few options.
One thing that this digital process does that my physical process doesn’t do is that it is MUCH faster. The speed at which I can go from sketch to inking to posting is massively increased. Mostly, this is a good thing, but there is one major downside.
One of those downsides is that the human eye tends to miss things. We see as much what we “think” we are seeing as we see what is actually there.
So, I do find when I look at some of these posts I notice little things I don’t think are quite right- like I am not sure about the gauntlets on both the sets. The angles seem… maybe not quite right.
In the long term, this probably means building in a “rest” period and learning some tricks for looking at my digital art more critically. Learning things like that was sort of the point of this whole project.
A Stylish Paper Doll July: A Big Fantasy Gown with Bows and Roses
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Sources:
I can’t say that buying a new i-pad after I’d already started this wild project was a particularly smart idea, because it is so much more sensitive than my old one. This means I am having to retrain my hands to know how to get the lines to look like I like and I am having to learn about stabilization in Procreate brushes faster than I thought I would. So, as part of my mission to make things that would make me practice, I decided to do a totally over the top fantasy gown.
It wasn’t until I’d drawn the gown that I realized that the tabs would all need to be floating, because there was no way to make tabs on this gown that would actually be functional.
Opps.
The source image is a color dress from Japan that has always felt a little steampunk to me.
As I understand it (and I am not expert) in Japan women often rent their wedding attire (smart) and change into a dress for the reception that is known as a “color dress” which is often in color (not white) and super fancy. Some women change several times over the course of the day. Kimono are traditionally worn for the ceremony, but not for the reception. I first learned about “color dresses” from Liana’s Paper Doll Blog and she has the actual Japanese which will get you better search results, I’ve found. (I know no Japanese and rely entirely on Google Translate to get me through these websites.)
Here’s some examples of these “color dresses” from a Japanese wedding dress company and here’s some Disney branded ones. I think they’re super fun! And I think renting wedding attire is genius and I wish it was an option in the USA (though I love my wedding dress very much.)
So, I think of this as feeling a little steampunk, but I’m curious. Do others think so? Let me know in a comment.
A Fairy Tale Paper Doll Experiment
So, I thought I would try a sketchier looser style for this paper doll, but I’m not convinced it works. Generally, my rule of thumb is to never apologize for my work.
However, I also think it’s okay to talk about things I don’t think were super effective.
I actually don’t think I took the “looseness” far enough. The result is something that just sort of feels like my usual stuff, just a little more loosely colored and I don’t love that. It feels like it’s neither fish nor fowl. The trick to trying out a different style is that you need to “commit” to it and I don’t think I did.
The experience was valuable. I might be a little “meh” about the outcomes, but I’d not unhappy I tried it.
As I told someone recently, I have less of a comfort-zone and more of a comfort puddle. So, getting out of my puddle is very frightening. It’s a big world out there.
I’m also realizing that there’s some core functionality to the program Procreate that I still don’t 100% understand. That’s a big learning curve too- figuring out how to make it do what I want it to do and deciding if it is best tool for certain parts of the process.
Slowly but surely, I am getting there though.
Right now, I am thinking Procreate may end up like my sketchbook used to be and Photoshop will remain my preferred tool for final finishing work. It’s selection tools and resizing abilities are so much better than Procreate and I like how it’s text tools work (I still haven’t figured those out in Procreate.)
Oh, I have a link to the printable pdf, but as with my other experiments lately, I’m not 100% sure I’d recommend home printing due to the massive ink usage the background is going to take. I mean- you do you! But that would be my concern if I was going to do it.
Jewels & Gemstones: Floral Elves Paper Dolls
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Well, when I decided to shift to this newsletter and monthly update schedule, I did not consider the downsides. The biggest one being that it’s much harder for me to step away as might be needed from time to time. I need to think on that, but I am enjoying the newsletter most of the time.
This month has just been very busy with non-paper doll related tasks. The statewide library conference was in-person for the first time in years, so I went to that. And I have two more library related conferences I’m attending this year. Plus, I’ve been working on a side project that isn’t quite ready for prime time (soon it will be and I couldn’t be more excited). And I’ve been prepping things to become prints for the paper doll party in May. Any leftovers from the party, I plan to offer for sale on Etsy, so maybe that’ll be an interesting change of pace.
Anyway, about this paper doll set- I admit that I started on these paper dolls largely, because I wanted to work with an old Marisole Monday set- Fabulous Fairy that I’ve always had a fondness for. Originally, I had planned on drawing wings, but actually ended up running out of paper in a sketchbook and not having a back up one. Opps. I really didn’t want to deal with paper I didn’t like. So, needless to say, the wings never happened.
Influences were largely flowers and the fact that I like gardens. I’m not much of a gardener, though I keep thinking I should take it up. I rent, so I don’t really know if tearing up the yard would be okay. I do keep herbs on my porch when spring comes and I like flowers. Flowers are pretty, useful to insects, and smell nice. It’s hard to be opposed to them, really. Plus, you can eat some of them.
The other big influence over this drawing fantasy hair which I don’t get to do nearly as much as I’d like. I love complicated hairstyles. You can check out some of my influences on my fantasy section of my Hair pinterest board.
If you’re a patron, there will be a Vivian gown sometime next week (exact date depending on how life shapes up) and we’ll continue on from there.
Regency Autumn Fantasy
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One of my favorite things is taking a historical silhouette and just playing with it. It’s pretty much just a chance to draw pretty dresses for paper dolls. Don’t get me wrong, I love doing variety (like this Cybergoth Set), but I think anyone whose a regular here knows my first loves are the fantasy and historical stuff.
The fantasy stuff is easier than the historical stuff, because there’s no research involved. I simply am unable to call something historical if I haven’t actually done some research to back up that claim. And sometimes, I just don’t wanna do research.
Despite the research free nature of these dresses, they are based on Regency Era styles. In my head, the dress on the left with the yellow skirt is a ballgown, because it is the lowest cut and fanciest. The dresses on the left are a dinner dress (the blue one) and day dress (the one with the vest).
If you want some actual regency dresses, rather than these regency fantasy dresses, I recommend my Regency tag and as I was working on this post, I realized I do have other regency fantasy dresses- enough that maybe I should make a tag for that too, so I did.
I now have a regency inspired tag for all my non-historical forays into this silhouette, including my regencycore modern stuff which I think I’m going to draw more of. I really enjoy drawing romantic dresses. And yes, I am eagerly waiting for season 3 of Bridgerton.
Meanwhile, this is Newsletter week, so if you haven’t, sign up and get an extra paper doll coloring page in your inbox every two weeks.
Witchtober Continues: 18th Century & Winter
Download the 18th Century Page PDF to Print | Download the Winter Page PDF to Print | The Rest of This Project
If there was one thing I knew from the beginning of this whole Witchtober adventure, it was that my 18th century gown was going to be big. When Julie and I picked out our 8 themes from this list by Juan Joltaire of witch themes, I immediately loved the idea of an 18th century witch.
First off, it has been a while since I drew anything 18th century inspired. Secondly, my love of giant paper doll dresses is well documented on this blog. And is there a better century for giant paper doll dresses than the 18th century? I think not.
For me, nothing in Western Fashion can beat the 18th century for pure over the top glorious absurdity in dresses like this one or this one. There will forever be a soft place in my heart for eras when things are just more is more and that is where the 18th century lives (also, the 1830s, because what even is this?).
Once I decided I was going to go big on the 18th century design, I had a technical problem. I knew that dress was going to fill the whole page. So, when it came time to design the Winter costume, which was the other theme for this week, I knew I needed to at least try to make something that could hold its own against the 18th century spider-queen delight I’d just drawn. After all, a little shift dress was not going to stand up.
So, I went with a sort of coat/top-thing with a bit of a train. For my Winter costume, I wanted something that would feel actually warm, but also I realized none of my outfits were trousers. Since that seemed a pity, I decided at least one of them should get trousers. There’s a little 1890s/1900s in this one with those sleeves and the cut of the bodice. Boots and a fur trimmed hat complete the outfit.
You can, of course, check out Julie’s takes on these two themes over on her blog. They’re great! I especially like like the hat to go with the 18th century gown.
Sapphire as Gallant Lady
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So, occasionally, I have a reason to dig into my own archives, which is always a kind of weird experience. Seeing art I made like 10 years ago feels… strange. Anyway, I was looking for something else and I came across Knights and Ladies for Marisole Monday from 2011. It was a paper doll printable that I made way back in the early days of site which, at the time, was only 2 years old.
Man, I was back in Library School then. Wow, it’s weird to think about that era of my life.
Anyhow, this was a paper doll I have very distinct memories of. I drew her in the library while I was in grad school and I was stuck between classes and I didn’t want to leave campus. I based the sleeves on some 19th century fashion drawings I’d been skimming through.
I saw it and I thought, man… I could do so much better now.
There’s things about the original Knights and Ladies that I found super compelling. I liked the hair and I was interested in the belts.
So, I decided to would draw the paper doll printable design once more for the Jewels and Gemstones series. This time I tried to think about how the belts would actually “function” if they were made of leather. I added some new details to the dresses and I fixed the skirts- before they clung way to much to the doll’s legs and I wanted more pooling. Though I debated recoloring the dresses, I decided against it. I thought I’d stick with my original color scheme.
I did go with a lighter hair color, because I wanted to keep the doll’s hair brown and I wanted a nice contrast with the skin-tone. I also was pretty sure that the original crown wouldn’t work very well on the doll, so I redesigned it to have the doll’s hair integrated.
All in all, I am very happy with how the new version of the Knights and Ladies came out. I don’t know how often I’ll do this, but it was a fun diversion.
What do you think of this paper doll? Let me know in a comment. I love hearing from y’all.